May 1, 1852 to May 30, 1852

On 7 May 1852, Virginia Governor Joseph Johnson commuted the death sentence of Jordan Hatcher, a tobacco factory slave, to sale and transportation from Virginia for the crime of murdering the overseer of his factory, William Jackson, on 25 February 1852. Johnson's commutation ignited a tumultuous debate and uproar throughout the state of Virginia. On the night of the commutation, a violent...

The Maryland General Assembly of 1852 was overtaken by an anti-Catholic fervor that produced a series of laws intended to insult and restrict the rising Catholic immigrant population from Ireland. A prohibition on the sale of liquor was imposed as one of the first acts of the General Assembly. Irish immigrants were not only some of the most frequent customers of liquor stores, but had increasingly...